As Shoify continued to experience hyper-growth I stepped in as the communications program manager for the 5,000+ Support organisation. My knowledge, experience, and education allowed me to identify high-impact strategic projects, build sustainable and scalable systems, and refine communication processes for Support teams operating 24/7 world-wide. The communication program was implemented over 18 months and led to higher engagement and collaboration across teams within Support. These projects, systems, and processes also created more open and effective communication with Support from other internal stakeholders like Talent, IT, Product, and Marketing teams. This included large hardware adoption projects, change management during extensive company reorganization, and aligning external marketing initiatives with internal professional development and training campaigns. I am very proud of the widespread improvement and adoption the communications program achieved through training and empowering Support Leadership. Over three months, I presented the strategy, tools, and tactics of the program to all levels of Support Leadership. This began with executive and director level presentations, targeted partnerships with internal stakeholders, and finally hosting workshops at LeadCon, an internal Shopify annual leadership event.I also developed and implemented a channel strategy that took advantage of different technologies for a remote audience. This strategy allowed for leadership and communicators to clearly understand when and why to use different channels like Slack, email announcements, internal newsletters, intranet posts, async video, or larger team events. The channel strategy led to a more effective mix of channels and tactics, and created consistency and clarity for audiences.

Leading support specialists on the Marketplaces team allowed me to focus on project, change, and knowledge management with highly skilled and independent workers. My team included specialists working remotely around the world, including time zones across North America, Germany, Ireland, and India. I was able to experiment and practise different async communication strategies. Working on the Marketplaces team meant we were experts in large external partner systems like Google Shopping or Facebook and Instagram by Meta. In our role we would troubleshoot and identify emerging issues with these systems. Our team then simultaneously communicated to developers to investigate and fix the issue, as well as our colleagues in larger Support teams to communicate directly with impacted merchants. The journey to leadership in Shopify was a bit rocky at times. Fast paced changes and ongoing growth meant that our Leads in Support didn’t invest in our own development and knowledge management enough. I worked with a multidisciplinary team to develop a leadership knowledge management project. Using the Guru knowledge management tool, we documented important context, learned experiences, and best practices into over 100 cards split into collections for leads across the entire organization.

As a lead I facilitated team development through 1:1s, habitual goals, and building team activities that aligned with our OKRs and Shopify’s larger strategy. In this role I was also able to continually experiment with data gathering and analysis. For example, I used our internal reports to identify outlying KPIs and then create highly targeted goals to improve specific behaviours within our team.Leading during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the ultimate tests in my career. While most of the world was shutting down, our online world in ecommerce was exploding! I lead a team of 10 direct reports through some of the most intense work in customer service they will ever experience. We made it through by building a compassionate environment, fostering resilience, and maintaining our high standards.

I began my time at Shopify working directly with merchants of all sizes and across huge variety of industries. This work grounded me in Shopify’s mission and let me immerse myself in the company’s culture. As an Advisor I developed and honed key technical skills and my interpersonal communication to help merchants troubleshoot issues, grow their businesses, and build a positive relation with Shopify! I quickly craved more from the role and sought out special projects like MailChimp migration proactive support and Shopify app store support. I also began to coach my colleagues and share some of my own marketing and communications knowledge so that my fellow Advisors could help merchants achieve even more!

At BrokerLink I was able to work on a number of strategic communications projects, including developing a crisis communications plan, creating industry specific social media campaigns, internal communications strategies for new product launches, and quarterly email marketing newsletters. One project, known as Farm Advantage, allowed me to work with agriculture experts to develop content, social media, and internal strategies for promoting new agriculture insurance products. My daily functions also included managing the company’s intranet, blog content writing, and social media planning, creation and monitoring. BrokerLink’s content strategy targeted a national audience which allowed me to work closely with subject matter experts in Alberta, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada. Managing these competing priorities for multiple stakeholders required me to be flexible but maintain strict project deadlines.

My primary role as a communications specialist at Riddell Kurczaba is to assist business development efforts through writing and editing proposals. However, I am also responsible for various internal and external communications deliverables such as social media, website and intranet content. I work collaboratively with our communications team to establish strategic marketing and communications initiatives which utilizes traditional mediums like brochures, ads and other print materials, as well as digital mediums such as newsletters, social media channels and websites.Another central element to my role as a communications specialist is managing and maintaining the company’s customer relationship management (CRM) database. Through the use of reports and forecasting the CRM database is a highly valuable tool for business development.I also organize various marketing events such as annual open houses, trade shows and special events. In the fall of 2014 I was tasked with organizing a 300 person gala event at the Fairmont Palliser in recognition of Calgary Herald columnist David Parker. For this event I worked with local business leaders to assist in planning the event, collected nearly $15,000 in sponsorship for the event and coordinated media coverage of the event.

Over my time with the Victoria Park Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ) I've developed communications plans for internal and external stakeholders, ranging from crisis communications to large marketing events. The Victoria Park area, like many other Calgary inner-city communities, faced a crisis due to historical flooding in June 2013. Many of the BRZ business members experienced extended closures during the recovery. However, through a swift response and coordinating relief efforts less than five per cent of BRZ businesses permanently closed.I was responsible maintaining communication with internal and external stakeholders during this crisis. Following the flood the BRZ partnered with Calgary Economic Development, Chamber of Commerce and other BRZs to participate in marketing campaigns like YYC is Open. I also managed the media relations strategy for the BRZ which generated print, radio and television coverage for flood affected businesses.One of my first tasks at the BRZ was to create a comprehensive social media program, which has grown the BRZ’s Facebook audience by over 250 per cent and Twitter audience by 60 per cent.As part of my duties at the BRZ I worked closely with the board of directors and created a wide range of communications materials including annual reports, media advisories, news releases and public service announcements.

Working at TEC Canada allowed me to experience a larger corporate setting while honing my technical marketing skills. I assisted marketing and communications team with event preparation and logistics.Regular duties included updating website material, drafting biographies, assembling marketing kits and proofing marketing materials.Database management was another key component in this position and I regularly utilized the client tracking CRM system SalesFUSION for e-mail marketing.

The Calgary Underground Film Festival is possibly the funnest job I've ever had. Cult movies, after-parties and an amazing community, what more can anyone ask for? CUFF has also let me take on ambitious projects such as creating and managing a marketing survey utilizing a seven person team and online distribution that produced over 300 responses, creating the organizations first detailed demographic analysis.Leading up to the 2012 festival I managed CUFF's newsletter and raised the subscription base by 25 per cent.CUFF doesn't forget the fundamentals of good communication and so I performed media monitoring and worked with our publicist to translate traditional media messages for social media and the website.

The 1986 BMX film RAD is the epitome of a cult movie. I was extremely excited to promote the RAD 25th Anniversary. I worked cooperatively with festival organizers, venue owners and event sponsors to plan 12 separate events including film screenings, receptions and cast and crew panels.I also took on responsibly for guest relations by booking travel and hotel accommodations and creating personalized VIP packages.Over the three day festival I also organized vehicle rentals, volunteers, online ticketing services and city permits as needed.

For the Calgary Latin Wave film festival my primary role was to operate social media channels leading up to and during three day film festival. Additionally, I coordinated customer satisfaction survey that reached more than 10 per cent of the film festival’s audience.I also assisted festival producer with other aspects including volunteer management, event planning and communications writing.

I've always had a passion for theatre and working with one of Calgary's most critically acclaimed theatre companies was a dream come true.During my time at ATP I was able to help transition department’s Tactical Plan from an Excel based planning document to an operating calendar in Microsoft Outlook that is accessible by all members of the department.I had the opportunity to create Artist Welcome Packages for all the actors, technicians and designers who work for ATP, a great way to say thank you to all the people who make the theatre we love. Overall I contacted more then 50 organizations and collected over $2,500 in donations.There was also tremendous opportunity to practice my writing during the internship. I produced letters, talking points and grant requests during my time with ATP.

Working in the Life Safety and Security department for ECPA allowed me to discover my passion for the arts.While there I was responsible for drafting daily, incident and analytical reports of employee performance, departmental effectiveness and security risks. I led and created a training program for the transition between contracted security personnel.